What do I see? — that face so fair,
My friend of years too bright to last,
Living again in beauty rare
As yonder omnibus went past.
Amid surroundings rude and low,
:Stood out the gem-like profile clear;
The mouth carved like a perfect bow,
The auburn curls that were so dear.
Can there be two with such a face?
:The other, which I thought unique,
Lies 'neath the ivy's sheltering grace,
Since many a year and month and week.
Say shall I follow? Shall I try
To leave my death-in-life and live?
The picture lost, alas! I cry—
Some joy may not the copy give?
Nay, while so much of good and great
Is round thy path and at thy side,
Force not the hands of wiser fate
To give the joy supreme denied.
Yet am I thankful for the glance
Vouchsafed me at thy face divine;
That for one moment sweet of trance,
I lived the life that once was mine.
Adieu — thou fadest as a dream;
The work-day world is hack once more:
Gone is that sudden rosy gleam,
And — here's the Athenæum door.